The year-end Nitto World tour finals is regarded as the 2nd most prestigious event in tennis after the Grand Slams. In the last decade the trophy has belonged either to Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic, with Andy Murray making an inroad in 2016.
However, in the last 3 years this event has seen the lesser domination of Big 3 and some new winners have emerged. Let’s look back at the 3 tournaments where every time a new winner emerged among the new generation.
2017: Grigor Gets The Glory
The year 2017 was the finest in the talented Bulgarian’s career. He rose to a career high rating of World Number 3 that year. That year he also won his 1st Masters 1000 title at Cincinnati.
Dimitrov also won his biggest career title that year in London. He defeated America’s Jack Sock in the semis and the Belgian David Goffin in the finals thus lift the convoluted trophy.
2018: Zverev Crowned Champion
This talented German has been a teenage tennis protégée. Barely 20 years of age in 2018 he was already a World Number 3 and a 2 time Masters 1000 champion. He had now begun to run shoulders with the who’s who of the game.
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Zverev won the Madrid Masters in May 2018 and was looking in great touch. He then showed his class at the Nitto finals by winning the tournament the hard way. Zverev defeated Roger Federer in the semis and later the then World Number 1 Novak Djokovic in an epic final.
Zverev dominated an in form Djokovic for both the sets and the Serbian never looked to much in control before the German closed the match with a wonderful backhand pass.
2019: Tsitsipas Rocks The O2 Arena
The year 2019 saw the emergence of 2 new guys who would challenge the top players. These are Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Daniil Medvedev of Russia. The former went on to lift the Nitto finals this year and close the year out in high spirits.
Tsitsipas who looked a bit lost in the mid season after having a great initial run made up in the last months of 2019. He reached the finals in Beijing and won the prestigious title in London. Tsitsipas defeated the 6 time champion Roger Federer in the semis before coming through a nail-biting final against the in-form Austrian Dominic Thiem.
